Tomato, tuna and tummy

I tried my home-made tuna and tomato sauce. As I'd got a supply of tinned tomatoes I made the rest of the family a bolognese sauce at the same time. I cook  for others like Beethoven wrote music - I have no idea what it tastes like and cannot taste as I go along. It's all pure guess work.

We also obtained a pack of shallots - which are allowed but we very rarely use. It was the last pack in Tesco's and reduced in price to 75p. I feel I could do more with them - can you pickle them like onions?

That was about two weeks ago and I may still be suffering. I had severe tummy-ache for several days following the meal. The Italian restaurants must be using a magic ingredient that counteracts the tomato - perhaps olive oil? This needs to be investigated further. I used about a third of the tin of tomatoes on myself and gave the rest to the others.

So I cannot recommend tuna and tomato as a way of getting tomato into the diet. However in case you have to cook bolognese sauce for the rest of the family when they refuse to share your sardine/mackerel/tuna and cabbage sauce, here is what I did:
brown mince in rapeseed oil;
stir fry some leek, cabbage and shallot in separate frying pan (and that formed the base for my own meal);
add the fried vegetables to browned mince, along with tin of tomato;
add a liberal dose of Italian herbs;
add a little bit of soy sauce;
add two beef stock cubes;
simmer and add some water from the pasta saucepan. If still too runny add a little flour to thicken.
I did not taste this once but they assured me it was delicious - and I did not catch them making faces behind my back.

RAS

Trying tomato

Sometime ago I reported eating out in an Italian restaurant and having to eat a dish packed with tomato and herbs. The dish seemed to be fine because it was fish, rather than meat.

I've now had the same experience again. We found a reasonably-priced Italian restaurant with a good variety of choices. The dish I chose was linguine and king prawn. I didn't expect it to have quite so much tomato in it - that wasn't advertised. But it was delicious, really tasty. And there have been absolutely no side-effects, zero side-effects. I did leave most of the chunks of tomato - but there was plenty in the pasta sauce also.

It helped no doubt  I took a montelukast that day and also helped I was eating a sea-food meal. But after a Christmas season which was quite difficult - and that may have been down to drinking white wine - it's fun to enjoy a meal with strong tastes and suffer absolutely no after-effects.

Now, if I remember right, my last list suggested tomato was low in salicylate - not high and not zero. But I've avoided it as I've avoided onion (see a current discussion on this site), because it seemed strongly implicated when problems first started. I vividly remember that meal of celery and cherry tomato when I was on a near-starvation diet and how my mouth just swelled up. The allergy consultant was also impressed by that story.

And Italian food was strongly linked to my initial symptoms. My body could not handle spaghetti bolognese and pizza. So should I try to introduce more tomato into my diet?

RAS

Coping with Christmas

I love this time of year - but every year now I have to check my anticipation. As I approach the season I think of stuffing myself with mince pies, a rich, dark Christmas pudding and turkey laced with cranberry sauce, stuffing, parsnips and rich gravy - followed somehow by taking the first bite of a rich dark Christmas cake.

It is all fantasy - and now I'm saying to people that Christmas is a time I lose weight when they put it on. I've been circumspect this year. I used to love those early Christmas dinners with work colleagues, friends and associates. Now I'm avoiding them. If I won't be particularly missed, I don't go - it's just too awkward to keep asking for the turkey to be served without gravy and for an alternative dessert to the Christmas pudding. I'm trying to persuade the family mince pie maker to make Golden Delicious apple pies with the same texture as mince pies. I'm still waiting.

There's flu around. I wonder if I could pick up the swine flu virus on Thursday in time to allow me to drink loads of wine to see it off - as I've done for the last couple of years. No sign of it coming anywhere near me so far. Perhaps I'd better go and sit in the doctor's surgery and see if I can pick it up...

RAS

No bananas?

This Danish study alarmed me as it says what I've always feared someone would say - that bananas aren't that great for you. Nor grapes.

The authors claim it pretty well settles the question of which diet to use to lose weight - low-carb, low fat and high protein. That seems to have sense, but what about fish - which surely is quite heavy in fish fat? I rely on bananas for my five-a-day, I find Golden Delicious apples increasingly unpalatable and probably rather more expensive than cheap bananas.

The conclusions of the Danish study are interesting but I'm not sure it settles the question of diet. For a start it involved barely a thousand families. I am certainly still stepping up my consumption of fish. I've just discovered the joy of grilled sardines. The grill helps to heat the house on a cold day and they make a reasonable quick snack for lunch or a light dinner.

And the good news is that my left arm has all but healed - no doubt thanks to grilled sardines. It has taken weeks but now it is no more than a little stiff - and it is getting better not worse in spite of Britain's icy weather. It's been a slow process and that's my excuse for only posting once before in November.

RAS

Fish oil toothpaste?

Scientists seem to have confirmed what some of us have known for a while - that fish oils can prevent gum disease.

http://www.englemed.co.uk/10/10nov022_fish_oil_gums.php

This is the story that we know: gum disease is not only caused by infection but by inflammation;

if you have salicylate hypersensitivity you know that eating fish will reduce reactions and reduce inflammation.

What's  interesting about this sort of study is whether it is, in fact, picking up and averaging out the impact on a sub-group of people who react badly to omega-6. Or whether everyone benefits from this kind of effect. In the research 8.2 per cent of people had gum disease.

There could even be other explanations. For instance that eating oily fish or cod liver oil kills the appetite and deters the consumption of sugary foods - Atkins diet style. Just a thought.

Toothpaste made of fish oil anyone?

RAS

Arm and leg

By Friday night I had painful gout in both my left arm and my left leg. It was probably aggravated by drinking a little whisky at a party and tasting some nibbles which turned out to be somewhat spicy. Yesterday, Saturday, it had gone away again - but the arm did not take long to get sore. My left eye is also a little sore - confirming that the left-side syndrome is raging again.

Two months after developing this sore arm I'm beginning to think I need to take it seriously, quite seriously. So I got my montelukast renewed and plan to take it daily. I've been eating oily fish, sardines last night and salmon with cabbage and rice for Sunday lunch today. I had a heart health check last week - apparently commissioned by the NHS. I was told I probably need to lose a stone in weight. The last time I lost weight was when I thought I had wheat allergy and I lost half a stone. That was miserable - although it might have been the anti-histamines. I lost a few pounds on holiday and I guess I've put that back. I'm afraid my healthy meals probably won't help - they're far too filling. The nurse recommended exercise - she's right and provided I can stop my limbs going stiff I need to do more. If I "lose" my left arm and leg it's going to be challenging - right-handed table tennis possibly?

She took some blood and promised to get it tested for enzymes. As she took it from my left arm - which was full of gout - I wonder what enzymes they are going to find. I'll await the doctor's summons.

RAS

Elbow and fish

My left elbow is still a little sore and that's after about six weeks. I nearly got rid of it. Over five days earlier in the week I ate six meals of fish and just one of chicken and at the end the arm was just about back to normal. That shows the power of fish. Indeed the meals included a McDonalds fillet o'fish and other catered items.

Mostly it's not stiff - just a soreness which feels like stiffness. Regular readers will know most of my problems are on the left and it's quite worrying as I'm left-handed. I'm trying to make myself ambidextrous. Typing is an amidextrous activity and maybe I need to move the mouse to the right hand side - like everyone else - in order to prevent RSI on the left. Just to be clear, this problem is not at root RSI. As well as the stiffness there's a red rash  indicating that's where the salicylate reactions are concentrating at the moment.

RAS

Good caterers!

I went to an event and gave them my dietary requirements. Yes, the caterers will do salicylate-free, I was told.

So there I am waiting for my dry  tuna and cheese sandwiches. Then I glance at the hot-dishes from which they are serving food. That looks good, I think. It looks like salmon, spinach and leek?

Sure enough it is. And everyone is eating a healthy salicylate-free meal. Now that's what I call good catering! Congratulations. (I wonder whether they got the idea from this site?)

RAS

But this is bad news...

http://www.hpa.org.uk/NewsCentre/NationalPressReleases/2010PressReleases/100929SalmonellaBariellybeansprouts/

Not long since I kept a packet of bean sprouts in the fridge for quite a long time. Has anyone ever successfully managed to cook bean sprouts?

RAS

Too much fish oil?

Well too much of anything is always bad for you.

http://news.msu.edu/story/8389/

RAS